Saturday, February 1, 2014

This YA Adventure Fantasy series is awesome for any readers 12 years and up. Check it out!

Featured Book of the day-

Cassidy Jones and The Secret Formula

(Cassidy Jones Series)

Featured Author- Elise Stokes

~Bio~
Elise Stokes lives with her husband and four children. She was an elementary
school teacher before becoming a full-time mom. With a daughter in middle
school and two in high school, Elise's understanding of the challenges facing
girls in that age range inspired her to create a series that will motivate
girls to value individualism, courage, integrity, and intelligence. The stories
in Cassidy Jones Adventures are fun and relatable, and a bit edgy without
taking the reader uncomfortably out of bounds. Cassidy Jones and the Secret
Formula, Cassidy Jones and Vulcan's Gift, and Cassidy Jones and the Seventh
Attendant are the first three books in the series. Book Four, Cassidy Jones and
the Luminous, will be released in 2014.

Description- Cassidy Jones
and The Secret Formula

One Girl. One Accident. One Incredible Superhero.

Cassidy Jones is your typical
fourteen-year-old-- that is, until a seemingly harmless accident in
the laboratory of a world-renowned geneticist turns her world upside
down.

Discovering incredible strength, speed, and enhanced physical senses that
defy logic, Cassidy embarks on an action-packed adventure that has her
fighting for answers...and for her very life.

Excerpt-

Chapter Nine: A New Friend

Summary: Cassidy takes Emery into
her confidence.

We sat on opposite benches, our
knees a foot apart.

Emery watched me curiously while I
considered

how to start. I resorted to small
talk.

“Uh, Emery, so where do you
live?”

“We rent a condo near
Wallingford,” he answered

patiently, making no attempt to
elaborate.

“Oh.” I touched my forehead.
“Were you born in

Seattle?”

“No, Washington, D.C.” Placing
his forearms on

his knees, he leaned forward. “How
did you hurt your

forehead?”

I dropped my hand. “Funny.
That’s what I want to

talk to you about.”

Intently looking at my face,
he waited for me to

continue.

I touched my nose. “Before
yesterday, I had freckles.

They were light, but they were
there.”

Narrowing his eyes on my nose,
he attempted to

decipher.

Taking a deep breath, I
continued, “Sorry, that didn’t

make any sense. Let me put it this
way—I had freckles

when I went to your mom’s lab with
my dad.”

His expression became so
intense, frightening

almost, that I hesitated. My
feelings about him were

conﬂicted. He made me uneasy.
Everything about him

was so foreign.

Emery’s voice took on a
soothing tone. “I understand

that you injured your head in my
mom’s lab. Please, tell

me how. You can trust me. I want to
help you.”

I searched his eyes. It was
difﬁcult to penetrate

through the blackness, adding to my
unease. “I don’t

think you can.”

Impulsively, or maybe
intentionally, he grabbed

my hand, holding it between his.
“Please, tell me,” he

repeated.

I took another deep, tortured
breath. “Your mom

had something cooking in beakers on
that Bunsen

burner near the coffeemaker. While
Dad interviewed

her, I sat on a stool next to them.
The stool collapsed

and I fell, knocking everything over
onto the table.

When the liquids ran together, they
formed this white

cloud, and I breathed it in. It’s
difﬁcult to explain exactly

what happened. My whole body felt
like it was on ﬁre,

melting from the inside, and then
everything went

black. I guess I passed out or
something. Afterward, I

was…changed.”

“What do you mean by
‘changed’?” he asked, slowly

and calmly, squeezing my hand.

Pulling my hand from his grip,
I lifted it to my fore-

head. “When I passed out, I hit my
head on the edge of

the counter. My forehead split, or
at least, that’s what

Dad and Ben said, and with all the
blood, I don’t think

they were wrong.” My ﬁngers trembled
against the

gauze. “The doctor at the ER said it
was only a surface

wound. He thought Dad and Ben had
been fooled by

the blood, thinking it was worse
than it really was. He

put a bandage over it and this
gauze.”

Emery’s gaze ﬁxed on my
unsteady ﬁngers, watching

as I pinched the surgical tape and
hesitantly pulled the

gauze away, exposing my forehead.
His eyes ﬁlled with

disbelief.

“How did this happen,
Emery?”

Shaking his head, his gaze
dropped to his hands in

his lap.

Quiet minutes ticked by. With
each passing one,

I sank deeper into despair. When I
couldn’t take

the silence anymore, I pleaded,
“Please, Emery, say

something.”

“Be patient. I’m
thinking.”

“Well, think out loud.”

Smiling slightly cock-eyed, he
said, “Trust me, you

don’t want me to do that.”

Does he think this is a
joke? Furious, I slapped the

gauze on my forehead. “Trust you?
Apparently that was

a mistake.” Abruptly, I stood up,
causing the swing to

sway.

“Cassidy, sit down,” Emery
commanded calmly.

Glaring, I sat. I had nowhere
else to go.

“Trusting me is the right
thing to do. Aside from

my mom, I’m the only other person
who understands

anything of depth about Formula
10X.”

“Formula 10X?” I said with
hope. “That’s what was

in the beakers?”

“Yes, or at least, a variation
of it. I don’t know for

certain, because she kept her latest
experimentation

with the formula undisclosed.”

“Why would she keep it a
secret from you?” I asked,

truly interested.

He smiled to himself. “That’s
the way she is. I assume

she wanted to prove out her new
theories before bring-

ing me back in.”

Strange, I
thought. He says this like he didn’t ask her

about it. Why wouldn’t he ask? “Well, she did it. It works.

I’m living proof she
succeeded.”

“No, I don’t think she did,”
he disagreed, sounding

regretful. “How the formula has
affected you would not

have been her intention.” Pausing,
he looked thoughtful.

“However, it’s premature for me to
come to that con-

clusion until I know precisely how
you’ve been affected,

or changed, as you put it. Tell me
everything.”

“Everything” poured out at
once. I ended my

twenty-seven-hour saga with this:
“At the police station,

I thought you’d ﬁgured it all out.
The way you looked

at me all intense, it seemed like you
guessed everything

that was going on.”

Shaking his head, Emery
smiled. “Though I admit I

did ﬁnd your behavior odd, I
wouldn’t have guessed this

in a million years.”

Despite the situation, I
laughed. He found my behavior

odd? I also thought the “million years” was an exaggera-

tion. I had a feeling Emery wasn’t
in the dark about

anything for long. “Okay, now you
know everything.

What do you think?”

Silence was his only response
as he studied my face.

His scrutiny reminded me of his mother’s—clinical,

detached—like he observed me under a
microscope.

This was disturbing, to say the
least.

My brow furrowed. “Stop
staring at me like that. I

know I’m a freak.”

“Cassidy, you are not a
freak,” he contradicted, his

expression softening. “Don’t ever
say or think that. I

certainly don’t view you that way.
I’m only astounded

by how you’ve been affected. From a
scientiﬁc perspec-

tive, it’s impossible.”

“It can’t be.” My eyes welled.
“Look at me.”

Alert to the coming despair,
Emery placed a reas-

suring hand on my shoulder. “But
that doesn’t mean we

won’t ﬁnd a solution. I promise you,
we will.”

Emery spoke with such earnest
conﬁdence that I

couldn’t help but believe him.
Nodding agreement, I

dabbed my wet eyes with my
sleeve.

Dropping his hand from my
shoulder, he said in a

formal tone, “Allow me to tell you
about Formula 10X.

It’s a type of gene therapy
containing a variety of animal

DNA, among many other components. My
mom’s goal

is to ﬁnd a way to manipulate these
DNAs to beneﬁt a

human recipient by choosing genes
that represent dif-

ferent strengths of the nonhuman and
infusing those

genes into the weakened cells and
tissues of the human.

For example, a human who is crippled
would perhaps

be infused with puma genes, since
they are known for

their agility and strength. The goal
is not to make the

human like the puma, but to restore
the human’s func-

tion and health within a normal
range.”

“Well, why am I like a puma,
then?”

“I don’t know exactly.
Obviously, by your intense

physical reaction when initially
exposed, something in

the formula overloaded your nervous
system. Maybe

10X affected you so extremely
because you’re a young,

healthy girl who received the
formula in its entirety.

What I mean is, you would have never
been a 10X

candidate, since you suffer none of
the disabilities and

ailments an appropriate candidate
would. Also, the

recipient would have been
administered the formula

in small doses, tailored to their
needs. Your exposure

was radical, and now you’re
experiencing the full potent

affects of 10X. Do you
understand?”

I nodded. “I think so. It’s
like a glass half ﬁlled with

water, slowly having more added
until it reaches the rim.

I was already a full glass, and 10X
was an entire pitcher

poured into me at once.” Dread
brewed inside me as I

continued. “And now that the water
has spilled, there’s no

way to tell where it will go or what
will happen to it.”

“That’s one way to look at
it,” Emery said, dismally

looking at the woods. For several
seconds he didn’t

speak, lost in thought.

During those quiet seconds, I
stared at the ground,

not thinking, only waiting. When I
felt his eyes on my

face, I looked up. His expression
was determined.

“None of this makes sense, but
obviously, it isn’t

impossible. As you pointed out,
you’re living proof.

Since it isn’t impossible, there is
an answer and solution.

Tell me again, in detail, what you
experienced when the

liquids converged.”

Quickly, I explained again.
Finishing the account, I

held my breath expectantly.

Smiling slightly, he shrugged.
“I have nothing.”

My breath rushed out in an
offended gust. “What?

Do you think this is a game or
something?”

“No,” he quickly clariﬁed.
“I’m sorry, Cassidy, that

came across as glib. I truly have
nothing, and it frus-

trates me. I understand the
compounds turned to a gas,

but I have no idea why. And I have
no idea what they

formed or why your nervous system
reacted so violently

when you inhaled the gas. There has
to be an unknown,

a catalyst that pushed everything
over the edge. What

that catalyst is, again, I haven’t a
clue…Cassidy, are you

listening to me?”

Actually, I wasn’t. A black
cat near the path leading

to the woods had caught my eye. Low
to the ground,

it focused intensely on something in
the tall grass.

I recognized what it was doing
because I had done it

myself. The cat was hunting,
stalking its prey. After

commando-crawling toward its victim,
it sank low in

the grass, anticipating the kill.
Opportunity arrived.

Black fur gracefully glided through
the air. The cat

easily landed on the unfortunate
victim: a brown ﬁeld

mouse.

I watched the cat excitedly
toss the mouse in the air,

remorselessly tormenting its victim.
Dread slid through

my stomach. “Emery, you mentioned
pumas. Do you

think there was cat DNA in that
stuff I sucked in?”

Turning back to him, I saw
that he had been watch-

ing the cat, too. He replied, “She
experimented with

feline DNA.”

I took this as a yes. Oh,
geez.

“There is another thing I’ve
noticed different about

me,” I began hesitantly. Emery
looked back at me, and

I could feel my cheeks warm under
his gaze. I really

didn’t want to bring this up, but
thought I should after

what he witnessed at the sports
ﬁeld. “I don’t usually

have meltdowns. I’m not one of those
emotional girls…

at least, I wasn’t…I have no idea
why I started bawling

like that.”

His response wasn’t hesitant
at all. “The changes

you’ve experienced are not only
physical, but chemical,

so it stands to reason you will be
more prone to mood

swings and extreme reactions. And it
will be more difﬁ-

cult—how should I say it?—to shove
feelings down.”

I stared at him in surprise.
He had pegged me. I

was the queen of shoving down
unwanted feelings. “If

you’re right, Emery, poor me—poor
everyone.”

To this, he only smiled, and
then said, “It’s about

time you showed me what you can do.”
Glancing across

the sprawling lawn, his eyes settled
on a couple lying

together on the grass. They were far
enough away that

their facial features were
indistinguishable. “Tell me

about them.”

Rising to the challenge, I
adjusted the couple until

they appeared a few feet away. On
their stomachs, they

turned their heads in so they were
nose to nose.

“Okay, the guy has
shoulder-length, brown—”

Emery interrupted, squinting
his eyes. “You’ll have

to do better than that. Even I can
see his hair.”

“Well, can you see he has a
silver hoop through

the right side of his bushy, black
unibrow? And there’s

a mole smack in the middle of his
left cheek.” I gri-

maced. “Geez, he should have that
removed. Okay, his

girlfriend has multiple piercings.
She looks like a pin

cushion. There are three small hoops
through her left

eyebrow. One. Two. Three. No, four
diamond studs on

the left side of her nose. Gross. A
gold hoop hanging

between her nostrils—”

With a look of distaste, Emery
cut in. “You’ve con-

vinced me with vision. All right,
they appear to be

talking. Can you hear what they’re
saying?”

“No prob.” I smiled
conﬁdently, weeding through

surrounding noise. After a moment, I
tuned into the

man’s husky whispers. “Okay, got
them. He’s saying—”

My jaw dropped. Immediately, I
severed the connec-

tion, but not before turning bright
red.

Emery laughed
hysterically.

Still blushing, I watched him
sternly. Every time he

looked at me, he laughed harder.
Child prodigy or not,

ultimately, boys will be boys.

Taking a deep breath, he
suddenly composed

himself. “Sorry, Cassidy, but your
expression was hys-

terical. You’ve convinced me that
you heard them.” He

grinned.

In response, I scowled.

“Again, I apologize,” he
repeated with an amused

grin. “All right, let’s move on to
another test.” Scanning

the park, his gaze settled behind
me. “Don’t turn around.

Behind you, that toddler is now
eating something.”

Closing my eyes, I sniffed the
air. There were so

many competing scents. “Is it
sweet?” I asked.

“Yes, it is.”

Nodding, I took in a deep
breath. Distinguish-

ing scents, I pinpointed a sweet,
edible one close by.

Opening my eyes, I grinned. “My,
you’re tricky, Emery.

First of all, that isn’t called
eating. That’s called drink-

ing, and he’s drinking apple juice.”

Emery gave me an impressed
look. “I can’t see the

juice box from here, so I’ll take
your word for it.” Grab-

bing my hands, he stood up, pulling
me to my feet.

“Now, let’s test strength.”

“Are you asking me to toss you
off here or break

your ﬁngers?” I teased, slightly
squeezing them.

Grinning, he pulled his hands
away. “Deﬁnitely not

the ﬁngers, and I think tossing me
from this swing is

too public, though I admit it would
be a good show.”

He nodded to the woods. “We’ll ﬁnd
something more

discreet in there.”

While following the path
through the woods,

Emery’s eyes roamed for that
something discreet. About

a hundred feet in, he suggested,
“Let’s get off this main

path. Over there.” He pointed to a
thinly trodden trail

cutting through thick growth.

Following Emery, we pushed our
way through the

growth. Obviously, no one had come
down this over-

grown trail in a while. I got the
brunt of the overgrowth

as the branches Emery pushed forward
sprung back at

me. After getting slapped in the
face with one, I was

prepared to demand that I lead, when
Emery said, “Yes,

this will work.”

Stepping into a clearing, he
pointed to a fallen tree

twenty feet ahead.

Smiling, I decided to show him
leaping before

strength. “Stand back,” I warned,
pushing him aside.

Then, running forward, I leaped for
the target. Leading

with my right foot, my body glided
easily through the

air. The exhilaration I had felt
while speeding around

the school track returned, and that
strange, pent-up

feeling released. For whatever
reason, this very unnatu-

ral thing felt as natural as walking
to me, and incredibly

freeing, as if I had been meant for
this.

My right foot touched the top
of the massive trunk,

and my left pulled in next to it. The
landing had been

perfect, steady and strong, without
even a hint of

balance loss. Pivoting on the trunk
to face Emery, I

smiled smugly.

Walking toward me, he
exclaimed, “That was incred-

ible. You move like a cat.”

His praise wiped the smile off
my face. “Cat,” I

grumbled to myself. “What’s up with
the cat theme?”

With a sigh, I hopped down next to
him. “I suppose you

want me to move this.” I patted the
thick tree trunk.

Emery examined the area around
the tree. “It appears

safe. I don’t see any danger if you
disturb it. First, make

sure there isn’t anyone
nearby.”

My ears quickly searched. “All
clear,” I announced,

moving up to the trunk.

Emery stepped back, his face
shining with anticipa-

tion.

Resting my palms against the
trunk, I prepared to

move the giant tree. Pulling in a
breath, I pushed. The

tree was heavy, but with exertion,
the giant’s resistance

gave way. I rolled the trunk up out
of the indented

ground. From underneath, something
scurried up the

trunk near my left hand. Squealing,
I jumped back. The

thick trunk rolled back into its
resting place.

Emery grinned. “It was only a
lizard.”

“I hate lizards.”
I shuddered. “The nasty thing almost

ran over my hand.”

“Ironic. You can push ﬁfteen
hundred pounds, and

you’re scared of a little
lizard.”

I gasped. “One thousand ﬁve
hundred pounds?”

Surveying the tree, he nodded
thoughtfully. “At

least.”

The information stunned me.
“Okay, then. What do

you want me to do next?”

For the next couple of hours,
Emery sought out all

kinds of challenges, from moving
boulders and leaping

into trees, to distinguishing sounds
and scents. He even

had me describe in detail what tree
bark looked like

microscopically.

Something else took place during
this time. My

unease around Emery disappeared. In
fact, it amazed

me just how comfortable I felt
around him. Though he

was my age, he had none of the
uncertainties we teens

are usually plagued with. For the
most part, I walked

on eggshells around girls my age.
Saying or doing the

wrong thing could trigger an instant
“girl war.” Even

though my friends weren’t petty,
instinctively, I was

careful. The boys weren’t as
sensitive but were every

bit as gossipy. So in general, I
watched my back, never

letting my guard down. It was
exhausting. With Emery,

I believed I could be myself, say
the wrong thing, do the

wrong thing, and he wouldn’t hold it
against me. He

really was a breath of fresh
air.

After testing senses,
strength, and agility, Emery

announced, “It’s time for speed.
Let’s see how fast you

can go through these woods.”

Back at the main path, we
parted ways. The plan was

for Emery to go to one entrance and
me to the other.

After listening to be sure the coast
was clear, I would

tune in to him where he would be
looping a countdown

out loud. From my end of the path, I
tuned in to the

woods. All I heard was Emery’s
looping countdown.

Positioning myself to run, I
listened.

“. . . Three, two, one—”

I took off at a mind-boggling
speed. Within seconds,

I stood before Emery. Wide-eyed, he
stared at me like

he’d seen a ghost.

“Unbelievable,” he uttered
above a whisper.

His reaction made me edgy.
“How fast do you think

I ran?” I asked, attempting to sound
casual.

“My guess would be forty miles
per hour. Imagine

how fast you would be on a solid,
straight surface. I’ve

never witnessed anything like this.”
His mouth pulled

down in the corners.

With an anxious feeling in my
gut, I studied him.

His face held no expression, as if
he wore a mask to hide

real emotions. The more I looked at
him, the more I

believed the emotion he hid was
fear. If he’s terriﬁed of

me, everyone will be, I anguished.

“What do you
want me to do now?” I said

sheepishly.

“Nothing,” he answered,
distracted. “Let’s head

out.” He motioned for me to walk
ahead.

With Emery following silently
behind, I walked in a

daze. I assumed he had me walk ahead
to keep an eye on

me. I am the most dangerous
thing out here, I bitterly told

myself. I’d make me walk
ahead, too, and—

Something scratchy brushed my
cheek, interrupt-

ing the thought. Reﬂex kicked in,
and before a second

passed, I was crouched on a tree
branch, looking down

at Emery. Smirking, he waved a dry
tree branch in his

hand.

“What’s the big deal?” I
snapped, hopping down.

Tossing the branch, he stated,
untroubled, “I

assumed you would react that way
when startled. We’ll

have to work on those involuntary
reﬂexes.” With a

grin, he added, “We can’t have you
jumping up in trees

in public.”

Glaring hard, I grumbled,
“Nice. Real nice.” With

my shoulder, I shoved past him,
stomping down the

path.

“I couldn’t have taken you
off-guard if I warned you

beforehand,” he called after me.
“For your protection,

I needed to know how you would
handle it.”

I spun around. “For my protection?
Don’t you mean

for yours or for the innocent
public’s?”

He grinned with understanding.
“Oh, you think I’m

afraid.” Walking toward me, he
continued, “Cassidy, I’m

fascinated, hardly afraid. Not of
you, at least. I am con-

cerned about you being exposed,
though.” He stopped in

front of me.

Glancing up at him, I asked,
“So you think I should

keep this a secret?”

Alarm washed over his face.
Abruptly, he grabbed

my upper arms. “Cassidy, you can
tell no one about this.

Absolutely no one.” Bending close to
me, he searched

my eyes. “Do you understand? No one
can know. Not

your parents, not anyone. Keeping
this a secret is not

only for your safety, it’s for your
family’s safety, too.”

My eyes widened. “Why would my
family be in

danger?”

“Think, Cassidy. Whoever has
my mom will want

you. You are Formula 10X, and they
would view you as

a nonentity, something to be
acquired. Your personal

value and rights would mean
absolutely nothing to

them. You would become a lab rat.
Imagine what they

would do to you.”

I tried not to.

“If they become aware of your
existence, they’ll do

anything to get you. People like
this have no bound-

aries. Everyone and everything
becomes free game

for them to get what they want. That
includes Nate,

Chazz—”

“Stop,” I interrupted, shaking
my head to dislodge

the terrifying images. “I get it. I
won’t tell anyone.”

After quick scrutiny, Emery
released my arms. Calm

replaced the alarm on his face. I
believed this expres-

sion was his standard mask. For a
moment, I studied the

mask that showed no signs of strain
or worry. As far as

facades go, it was a solid one, but
I wasn’t fooled. I knew

the turmoil that had to be going on
underneath.

“Emery, I’m sorry about your
mom,” I said for the

ﬁrst time.

Tightening his lips, he nodded
acknowledgment.

“Do you know who has
her?”

He stared off into the woods.
“No, but I know she’s

alive.”

“Please forgive me, Emery.”
The words wanted to

stick in my throat. It was wrong to
ask, but I had to.

“But how do you know?”

Looking back at me, he stated
matter-of-factly,

“She’s too valuable to kill. They
abducted her because

she has something they want. The
fact that I’m here

talking with you means she must be
cooperating to

some degree. It’s
unfortunate.”

It took me a moment to decode
his meaning. “You

don’t want her to cooperate, even if
it means she’s pro-

tecting you? What is it they want
from her?”

His smile was a mix of sadness
and resentment. “I’ve

already told you. They want you.
Formula 10X. It is

incredibly lucrative, and yes, I
want her not to cooper-

ate, no matter the sacriﬁce. In the
wrong hands, 10X is

detrimental to the world. Visualize
an army of you.”

“But they don’t know about
me.”

“And Iplan to
keep them ignorant.”

Staring up at him, I let his
words sink in. He plans to

protect me. I’m not alone. With this realization, I threw

my arms around his neck, like he was
a life preserver.

“Thank you,” I said in one grateful
breath, tightening

my arms.

Grabbing my biceps, he
attempted to loosen the

hold. “A little tight,” he
choked.

“Oh.” Blushing, I released
him.

Rubbing his neck, he smiled
with ease. “You have

quite a grip.” Noting that my cheek
shade deepened, he

continued, “Please, don’t feel
embarrassed. I understand

how scared you are. I promise you,
though, everything

will be all right. You will be all
right.”

“Thank you,” I whispered,
believing every word.

As he continued to smile, a
curious glint appeared in

his black eyes. “My mom will shed
light on the situation

when we get her back,” he said in a
casual tone.

Knitting my brow, I rewound
his previous state-

ments to ﬁgure out what I had
missed.

Reading my expression, his
smile broadened. “Oh,

I didn’t I tell you, did I? You and
I are going to ﬁnd

her.”

Reviews-

"Brimful of danger, secrets, a bit of romance and fun, this debut author's
entertaining plot and well-drawn characters not only is all it promises to be,
but will leave readers looking for more.." -- Gail Welborn, Examiner

"Elise Stokes ranks up there with other YA masterminds!" -- Kitty
Bullard, Great Minds Think Aloud

"Can I vote now for a movie on this series? With the adventure, the
mystery and Cassidy's super powers, Elise Stokes has delivered everything that
a young reader could hope for." --Stephanie Laymon, Five Alarm Book
Reviews